Can Physics Prove God?

Physics to God is a guided journey through modern physics to discover God. We start from the fine tuning of the constants of nature, travel through the multiverse, and ultimately arrive at a compelling idea of God.

Introduction

Welcome to Physics to God, a guided journey through modern physics to discover God. In this series, we'll discuss some of the most fascinating developments in physics and make a convincing argument that they point directly to the existence of God. 

Over the past few decades, scientists have discovered very special features of the natural world, features that are absolutely necessary for the existence of our complex and ordered universe. Most specifically, we have the constants of nature, numbers whose precise values seem almost too perfect to be explained by chance alone. This is called fine tuning. If you don't follow exactly what that means just yet, don't worry about it. On Physics to God, we explain it all in a language that you can understand. We'll show you how our universe's special features present a great mystery, and that the solution to this mystery demonstrates the existence of an intelligent cause of the universe. 

We're definitely not the first people to discover these special features of our universe. In fact, scientists have been grappling with them for decades. Some of the most prominent names in the scientific community have noticed the exact same thing. For example, Stephen Hawking, Martin Rees, Max Tegmark, amongst others. Because they don't want to bring God into the equation, they suggested a different reason why these constants seem perfectly fine tuned for our universe to emerge. Many top physicists have posited a multiverse, which is an infinite number of universes, each one with different values for these numbers. Of course, even they admit that we can never observe these parallel universes. 

Now, that might sound a lot more like science fiction than science, but some of the most brilliant people in the world are proponents of the multiverse theory. And while we don't agree with it, we take it very seriously. 

Regardless of what you maintain about the multiverse, if modern scientists are willing to posit something as wild as the multiverse, you can be certain that fine tuning shows that there's a very big mystery to solve. And on Physics to God, we explain the great mystery of the constants and then slowly and convincingly illustrate its proper solution. 

The Hosts' Bios

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's explain a little more about who we are and what we're going to do. And just as importantly, what we're not going to do 

My name is Aaron Zimmer. After receiving my degree in physics, together with my rabbinical ordination, I considered going to graduate school. But I had so many other interests besides physics, things that I wanted to think about like philosophy, mathematics, and biology, among other things. So I chose a bit of an unconventional path. I started trading commodity futures - oil, gas, cotton, sugar, and coffee, all using my own money. I used the conceptual categories and the way of thinking that I learned from both physics and the advanced Brisker Method of analyzing the Talmud. I was fortunate to be successful enough that I was able to retire from trading commodities after 11 years. Now I have the free time and energy to devote to all those various branches of knowledge in addition to studying advanced physics. 

My name is Elie Feder. In some ways, I have a similar background to Aaron, but in other ways, very different. I'm also an Orthodox rabbi, but my education took a more traditional path. After graduating college, I got a PhD in math. My thesis was in Braid group cryptography, and my current field of research is something called graph theory. While I really enjoy advanced mathematical research, I also have a passion for teaching. I love taking complex topics, those which students have the hardest time grasping and simplifying them in a manner that my students can understand. Being a math professor at a community college affords me that opportunity on a daily basis. 

Because of our differences, we have different ways of approaching teaching. This is something that we discovered over the course of the many years it took us to write the unpublished book this series is based upon. We realized that our two different paths in life correspond to two different styles of teaching. Elie's approach is to try to take the material, explain it, break it down, and simplify it to make it as clear and understandable for the student. 

This, of course, means that you inevitably lose some of the meaning. Aaron's approach is to respect you, the reader, and tell you the ideas as they truly are, and trust that you will be able to understand what we mean. 

In writing our book, we handle the discrepancy in our styles by passing each chapter back and forth many times. First, Aaron wrote it really complicated, and then Elie changed it and made it really simple. Then Aaron changed it back to complicated, but a little bit less so, and so on. Somehow it worked. Well, we think that we end up with a good mix of carefully formulated physics on the one hand, and a friendly presentation of ideas on the other.

That's the book. Here's what we're going to do on Physics to God. First, we'll tell it like it is, so that you can hear these amazing ideas about the universe without diluting them. Of course, we leave out the equations because we realize that most people don't want to hear complicated math.

Then, we'll take those ideas and make sure that everyone, whether or not you're a natural at science, can understand and appreciate them, often with the help of mundane analogies. Because we expect that this series will appeal to listeners with different backgrounds. And while some will enjoy the more advanced scientific ideas, others might prefer a more simplified version. Even though we're going to delve into some of the deepest mysteries of the universe, these ideas are actually pretty comprehensible. That is, once we translate the math into plain English and explain the physics in clear and understandable language.

We'll make sure that this series will speak to you, whether you have a scientific background or not. And whatever your background is, we are confident that, as an added perk, you will walk away with a better and clearer understanding of many of the most interesting issues in modern physics. It is shocking just how many of the most basic areas of physics this journey will touch upon.

Intended Audience for the Physics to God Podcast

While these series will appeal to lots of different audiences, two groups are going to especially enjoy Physics to God. First are religious people who mistakenly believe that God and science simply can't work together. In the coming episodes of this podcast, you'll see that not only is there no contradiction, but the opposite is the case: science convincingly points to the existence of God. While we won't discuss any religion or divine providence, we will present a compelling argument for the essential foundation of religion: that there exists an intelligent cause of the universe - God.

The other listener who will love Physics to God is an open-minded, secular person who is interested in the question, Does God exist? and is willing to accept the possibility that science and philosophy can lead to the conviction that the answer is: yes. To this listener, you don't have to worry that we'll use religious language or try to sneak some unscientific or philosophically shallow argument past you. Instead, all our arguments are presented within a secular framework, and use only rational categories that comply with the scientific method, or rational philosophy. Nothing in Physics to God will rely on divine revelation or spirituality.

So if you want to learn some mind-blowing physics, and see how using the scientific method, physics points directly to God, you are going to love Physics to God.

Three Series of the Podcast

We've divided our podcast into three separate series, each self-contained, each with its own specific theme.

The first series is called "An intelligent cause." And in this series, we'll go through some of the cutting-edge physics that demonstrates something called fine tuning. That is, the confluence of some insanely precise numbers that allow for the universe and life to exist. In fact, if these numbers were even a tiny bit different, the world as we know it couldn't exist at all. We'll go through those ideas and show you how they point directly to the idea of God. 

The second series is all about understanding and rejecting the multiverse, which for many physicists who dismiss the idea of an intelligent fine tuner, is their best theory for why the numbers we've referenced seem so exact. We'll talk about what the multiverse is, the different versions of this theory, as well as the reasons we think it isn't a good scientific explanation for fine tuning. 

The third series is where we confront the biggest questions of all. Why do so many scientists consider the idea of God irrational? We're going to develop a satisfactory and compelling idea of God that is philosophically rigorous at the same time as is religiously meaningful, in a way that answers all serious questions, such as: What caused God? What does God even mean? and many others. Again, we're doing all this without relying upon any religious assumptions about what God is.

If all this sounds like something you would be interested in, there's no better place to start than the first episode: The Relationship Between Fundamental Physics, the Constants of Nature, and a Theory of Everything.